No. 9 seeded UConn (15-16) kicks off the league tourney on Thursday against eighth-seeded South Florida at FedExForum (1 p.m., ESPNU). The Bulls (19-12) were one of the surprises of the regular season, though they enter the tournament losers of six of their last eight games.

“It’ll be a hard-fought game,” Hurley promised. “But this time of year, if you’re not filled with energy and excitement, you shouldn’t be playing.”

And the coach will look for Adams to set the tone.

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“He’s stepped to the forefront this week,” Hurley reported.

This week won’t be about Alterique Gilbert, who didn’t make the trip and won’t play at all in the tournament as he continues to recover from a concussion and eye injury sustained in a loss a week earlier to Temple.

It won’t even be about Josh Carlton, even though the sophomore was named the league’s co-Most Improved Player (along with Temple’s Nate Pierre-Louis) on Tuesday and has averaged 19 points and 8.6 rebounds in his last three games.

Not Christian Vital or Tyler Polley, who have also played well lately, either, or Tarin Smith, Sidney Wilson or Eric Cobb, who haven’t.

Nope, this one’s all about Jalen Adams.

“I think he’s in a really good mental place coming in,” Hurley said. “He’s ready to make his last stand as a UConn player here. He’s one of the most talented players in the league, if not the most talented. We told our team that. We’ve got young players playing well, some older guys in the rotation. We’ve got the most talented player in the league. Let’s see what we can do.”

Adams seems to understand that.

“I think everybody has that sense of urgency and is locked in,” he said. “It’s cliche, but every play counts. You can’t really take any plays off. In a tournament like this, it’s not about who’s the better team overall, it’s just who’s better that day. Whoever’s better that day is gonna win that game.”

Adams, of course, suffered a sprained MCL on Feb. 6 at Temple and missed the Huskies’ next six games, five of which they lost. He returned to action on Sunday in UConn’s regular season-finale at ECU and played well, doling out a career high-matching 12 assists to go with 13 points for his second double-double of the season as UConn won on the road for the first time in more than a year.

Now, every game could be the last in the college career for a player who’s had as mercurial a tenure as any in recent program memory. Or consider this: Adams was first-team all-AAC as a sophomore, second-team as a junior and third-team as a senior.

“I think everybody has a lot more confidence,” Adams said. “Last year, I feel like we weren’t moving with that swagger or whatever. Going into this game, we’re like, ‘We’ve got to get USF. Once we do that, we can go on to the next game.’ We’re not looking too far ahead, going game-by-game, but we’re thinking whoever we play, we have a good chance against.”

And if not, Jalen Adams’ college career is over.

“You’ll never coach or play with these teammates ever again once you lose,” Hurley noted. “So, you’d better win or be willing to die trying. That’s it. It’s finality.”

RIM RATTLINGS:

Gilbert, who didn’t make the trip to ECU, either, “will be fine,” according to Hurley. It’s just a matter of dealing with two separate injuries at the same time.

The coach noted that Gilbert’s eye injury isn’t anything long-term.

“He’s not gonna be running around in goggles or a face mask when he gets back on the court again for us,” Hurley said. “It’s a combination of the two, but it’s not long-term. Probably a couple-week thing.”

Carlton and Hurley credited assistant coach Kenya Hunter with much of Carlton’s improvement from a year ago.

“Big help,” Carlton said. “Every day in practice, working with the bigs, emphasizing things that help me in the game. It’s been a big help having him.”

Hunter was an assistant at Georgetown, where he helped develop big men Roy Hibbert, Greg Monroe and Otto Porter, among others.